Another Chance

Chapter 20

Castle climbs into bed beside Kate and tries to will his muscles to relax. "Who thought it could be so exhausting just to see other people acting as if it was the last chance they'd ever have to get their hands on a bargain. I like to save a buck as much as the next person - maybe more when I relive parts of my childhood - but what went on at that store on today was sheer madness. I'd rather let my fingers do the walking on Cyber Monday."

Kate rolls over and slips her hand beneath the waistband of his pajamas. "You don't have to wait that long to let them wander."

"And what path would you like them to take?"

Kate eases his bottoms down and kicks them toward the foot of the bed. "Use your writer's imagination. What would Jameson Rook do?"

Castle begins to trace her body with his hands. "I believe that he would investigate every detail."

Kate's fingers slide up and down his rising adoration. "As would Nikki Heat."

Castle pulls her against him, the warmth of their bodies mingling into a burgeoning conflagration. Castle explores Kates hottest region. She bucks at his touch, slick and ready. It's happening too fast. he needs to enjoy more of her, all of her.

His fingers titillate and tempt, while his mouth finds her breasts, loving first one surging tip and then the other until she is moaning beneath him, arching in desperation to to be filled.

Grasping the tantalizing curves of her hips he lifts her over him, where she can take him in. She gasps for air as he thumbs her trigger point. She need the full length of him as far inside her as it can penetrate, feeding the frissons that sizzle across her skin and through her veins.

A rush of sensation is infuses her being like the ocean on a beach at a rising tide. One final thrust and the oscillating flood is released, coursing through her and Castle both. The uprising subsides, the waves ebbing slowly, leaving them boneless and breathless.

Castle groans as the alert on Kate's phone sounds. Her hand snakes out from beneath the covers to turn it off, and she stares at the screen. "When Libby Sanders went to her sisters' apartment to get some clothes for the mortuary to dress her in, the lock was broken. She called the cops, and when they escorted her inside, the only thing she could find missing was one of Tillie's sales awards. There was another one like it, and from the shape, Perlmutter thinks the stolen object might have been the murder weapon. CSU is still going over the apartment for any clues as to who would have broken in and taken it."

Castle props himself up on his elbow. "That would suggest that it was someone from the store, maybe one of the people whose names we got from Casey or from the women Tillie socialized with after work."

"That was a pretty long list of suspects, Castle."

"True. Behind the smiling faces hawking retail wares is a lava pool of seething resentment. But we've slogged through murkier swamps. Ooh -really mixing the metaphors this morning. I need caffeine- lots of it. You want your usual?"

Kate drags herself to the edge of the bed. "I think I could go with something stronger than a vanilla latte. You still have any of that Vienna Roast my father likes?"

"You mean the stuff that eats the espresso machine? That's worse than the sludge you were drinking at the 12th before I rescued you and the boys from the continuing erosion of your stomach linings. There's some left from Thanksgiving. But if you really want it, I would advise mitigating its corrosive effects with breakfast. We still have a couple of chocolate croissants."

"Sold!" She picks up her phone again. "I'll start setting up some interviews while it brews. And dibs on the first shower."

"We could take it together."

"Castle if we do that, neither one of us will have the strength to get out of here."

He sighs. "You're right. But it's still an intriguing thought."

The expression on Luna Mayfield's face is apathetic – but studiedly so. The set of her body and the rubbing of her fingers against the tabletop scream apprehensiveness. Kate opens a file and spends five minutes studying it while the young clerk sweats, before finally looking up. "Ms. Mayfield, how well did you know Tillie Sondheim?"

Luna's fingernails dig into her palms. "I hardly knew her at all. She worked on the same floor at Macy's that I do. I mean I said hello to be polite."

"That's interesting," Castle inserts, "because you were overheard by more than one of your co-workers saying things about Tillie that were far from polite." Kate passes the file to Castle. "Oh yes, 'biddy, outdated, hag.' This is a bit more creative, 'past her expiration date.' Perhaps you helped her to expire."

Luna's chair scrapes against the floor as she rears back. "What? No! I didn't do anything to Tillie. I mean yeah, I thought it might be good if she retired and gave the rest of us a chance to get some recognition, maybe move into a manager's job. But I wouldn't hurt her. It would be like killing my grandmother or something. Gross!"

Kate closes the file, the snap of the cardboard cover vibrating through the air of the interrogation room. "Where were you the night before the parade?"

"I was with a bunch of other people from the store, kind of an early Friendsgiving. I can give you names. Ask them."

"I'll do that," Kate promises.

Micah will never be so glad to see the end of a day. Black Friday was bad enough, but all the hobby shoppers who thought they'd avoid the crowds are showing up today. A lot of them ask for help. He doesn't mind that. He's glad to give it. It's the ones who think they know everything about how some of the controllers should work because they've seen some segment on a talk show, that drive him crazy. The hyperbole that is disguised as information leads them to expect the impossible. They are convinced that the devices will be able to deliver it. The little knowledge they have might not be dangerous in a life-threatening way, but it's all he can do to keep them from destroying the merchandise. And of course if he can't replicate the wonders they saw on their screens, it's his fault for trying to sell crappy stuff. He's even heard a few insults that are new to him, which for New York, is saying something.

At least he doesn't have to work Sunday. He wants nothing more than to curl up with Alexis. She said her neighbors on both sides in the dorm went home for the holiday. With any luck, there won't be much to impinge on their time together. Her tiny fridge is stuffed with leftovers from the Castle family feast, too. And he has a few things he can add to their stash. Hopefully, they can just hunker down and enjoy each other without the world intruding. He can't imagine anything he could look forward to more, except maybe being able to share more than a day at a time with her. He can only hope that time will come.